


Ben Hargreeves's Manifest Destiny

by ChocolateCoconut



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Canon Compliant, Family Fluff, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, No Incest, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, The Umbrella Academy (TV) Season 2 Spoilers, The Umbrella Academy (TV) Spoilers, no possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25828042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateCoconut/pseuds/ChocolateCoconut
Summary: 5 times Klaus managed to make Ben corporeal for his siblings (and others) to FINALLY get a chance to talk with Number 6 again... and one time Klaus couldn't. Takes place throughout season 2.A mix of fluff, humor, and angst. Each chapter can also be read as a standalone.Update: Just added a post-canon chapter starring Klaus and Diego!
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Everyone, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves/Jill, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves
Comments: 87
Kudos: 575





	1. Allison

**Author's Note:**

> Ben badgered Klaus on the possession issue so he could meet... Jill?!? But he didn't press the issue for his siblings, especially when everyone now knows that Klaus can make Ben corporeal?!? C'MON! 
> 
> I adored many things about season 2 but this was my biggest disappointment. So, I'm attempting to create my dreams through fic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poolside reunion!

"I thought you were dead," Klaus tells her with surprising vulnerability. "I thought I was the only one left."

Allison winces, her stomach dropping as she feels her hope dissipate. On her cab ride over to Klaus's mansion (A MANSION?!), she had begun to wonder if finding Klaus would immediately lead her to a family reunion of _all_ the Hargreeves siblings. Perhaps Klaus had heard from the others — maybe even arrived in Dallas with them.

Yup, on the ride over, Allison had allowed herself to envision arriving at the mansion to five delighted faces (or ok, more realistically, a mix of delighted and annoyed faces) — her siblings all hanging out together, awaiting her arrival over the past two years. And even though Allison would have felt tremendously envious to have been left out, the only one displaced from the group, she didn't wish the stifling feelings of uncertainty and survivor's guilt that had threatened to destroy her on anyone else.

But nope, looks like it's Klaus and Klaus alone. She's glad to see him — thrilled in fact! But… still; the Hargreeves aren't complete. _She_ doesn't feel complete.

"Me too," she tells Klaus. "I didn't know where… or I guess, _when_ , you all were. Gosh, I ran through so many theories — calculations even. I started to feel like Five."

Klaus nods, bottom lip quivering a bit.

But then, something dawns on Allison — lingering from the last time she'd seen Klaus.

"Wait, Ben! Did he come with you?!" 

Klaus sighs. "No, unfortunately, ghosts can't time tra—"

He abruptly shifts course. "Shuuuuuuu… SHUT UP!" He grits his teeth, seemingly threatening her with his fist, though oddly, his gaze is several inches to her left. "Will you just be quiet FOR ONE GD-DAMN SEC —"

Allison puts her arms up, defensively. "Ok, ok, ok. What the hell, Klaus?! I'm sorry."

Geez, overreact much, Klaus? Guess losing Ben to time travel is a touchy subject.

"Look, I'm sorry Ben's didn't make it," Allison elaborates. "That sucks. But you can't fault me for asking. I didn't know."

When Ben had appeared that day in the Icarus Theatre two years ago (or rather, 56-ish years in the future), Allison had been so excited — though only fleetingly. She couldn't exactly dwell on the feeling, no matter how huge the revelation was. They were all rather busy dealing with a little thing called The End of the World.

But, since then, over the last two years in the 1960s, Allison had tortured herself with the "what ifs?". What if she had believed Klaus when he claimed to be seeing Ben? What if they hadn't just pushed his drugged-up claims aside? What if she'd actually had had the chance to continue knowing Ben, post-death? Sure, he'd be a ghost (freaky) but at least she'd still have her lovingly dorky brother around. Ugh, what if?!

But that window seemed to have closed once she arrived in Dallas, and now, upon finding Klaus, seems to have evaded her once again. 

Speaking of right now, Klaus doesn't appear to be listening to her. Or maybe he's constipated? He's pursing his lips and shaking his head back and forth vigorously. He even shushes the air a few times.

"So, I guess you haven't managed to say sober then, huh?" Allison says. That's — what? — the third massively disappointing news alert in a row?

Klaus groans, still not quite meeting her eyes. "Will you quit being such a little bug-a-boo! Arrrrrrrgh. Fi-iiiiiine! FINE."

Then Klaus does something even stranger. He clenches his fists as his hands glow blue. "You happy?"

They're bright blue. That could only mean one thing.

Allison glares at him. He's powering up?! "What the hell are you doing?!" she asks. "Trying to _prove_ that you're sober? Klaus, I don't need —"

"Hi, Allie."

The voice isn't Klaus's. It's shy, tentative. And maybe even familiar? Yes, definitely familiar. Like a song she had heard long ago, but remixed.

She turns to her left, towards the sound, and lets out a gasp.

A man is sitting there, right on the edge of the pool just like her. He's wearing a black leather jacket, a black hoodie, black jeans, and even black boots, which are sticking into the water.

Her first thought? That isn't proper poolside attire.

Her second thought? She knows him. Wait, no — it's more than that. This is someone she loves — even though his features are different... older... than she's ever had the joy of getting to see for herself.

"BEN!" It's a cry, a gasp, and hallelujah all in one.

"Oh my gosh, Ben!" She throws herself at him, not caring as her knees scrape the granite.

Ben clings back, completely solid against Allison's skin. He's so so real.

She wraps her arms more tightly around his shoulders, half-worried that if she loosens her grip even the slightest, he'll vanish. Or worse yet, he'll reveal himself to be just a desperate, sleep-deprived illusion.

"Ben, Ben, Ben." She whispers, not sure if the words are meant for him or just for herself.

"Allison," he sighs deeply, relaxing further into the hug.

They stay there for several seconds, simply savoring each other's presence.

"You're here. You're really here!" Allison says.

"Yes, I'm with you, sis."

"Alright, alright, alright," comes Klaus's voice — and a heavy splash, drenching the hugging duo, along with it. "No need to hump our dear poor Ben-y boy, Allison. He's not Luther."

Allison lets go of Ben for one highly motivating reason: to kick all the water she possibly can at her very-much-alive-but-oh-so-perverted brother.

Ben follows suit, managing an even bigger splash thanks to his boots, and Klaus gets knocked off the pool float.

Klaus walks over to his siblings, purposely flicking water directly into Ben's crotch with each step. "Hey, watch it, Casper. I manifested you into this realm and I can manifest you right out of it!"

Ben just rolls his eyes, clearly used to Klaus's bullying.

Allison watches with awe, marveling at this older version of her long-dead brother. She notes the difference in his jawline, his hair, his eyes. He looks more confident, less burdened than he ever did in life.

"You look good, Ben. Told you your acne would clear up."

"Ah yes, our young Benjamin is a full-grown man now," comments Klaus. "Well, a full-grown ghost-man."

Ben blushes. "Thanks, Allie."

Ghosts can blush?! There's a lot Allison wants to learn about how this whole spirit thing works. But she'll get caught up on Ben's life — or, erm, existence — since his death later. First, she needs to get the lowdown on just the last two years.

"Can you two catch me up on how you ended up in a place like this?", she asks.

"What? The physical realm?" says Ben.

"The mansion?" says Klaus.

Allison points at Klaus. Bingo. "The mansion first."

"Oh, you know, dicks, drugs, debutantes," Klaus says smugly, settling back into the pool float. "My holy trinity."

"More like your destructive vices," Ben corrects.

Allison snorts in agreement and Klaus hisses at Ben, appearing to forget that Allison can see him, too.

"Klaus, you started a cult," Allison chides, before rounding on Ben, a bizarre fact percolating in her mind. "And you — you let him! Unbelievable!"

"Cult is a very negative word, Allison," Klaus says. He points between Ben and himself, "We prefer to call it an 'alternative spiritual community.'"

"Nope, not _we_ ," says Ben. "Allison's bang on."

He turns directly to his sister, placing an arm on her elbow just because. Allison's heart swells, feeling like a protective older sister. She can't help but still think of Ben as a teen in need of shielding.

"We didn't mean for it to happen either," Ben is saying. "The cult. It just… spiraled out of control. But it's not all Charles Manson-y. Wannabe _GQ_ Jesus over here isn't smart enough to pull that off."

Klaus pelts water at Ben again. "Heyyy, you're MY ghost bitch. You're supposed to be on my side. Literally."

"Well, enough about us," Ben says, unfazed. "What about you, Allison? What have you been up to?" He gives her elbow a soft squeeze. "I know the 60s can't be easy for you."

"No, they're not," Allison acknowledges. Nice for someone to recognize that, unprompted! "But I've managed. I'm living in South Dallas, working as a civil rights organizer."

"Wow," Klaus says. Ben just beams.

"...With my husband," Allison adds.

Klaus and Ben simultaneously gasp.

"Congratulations!" says Ben. "Who is this —"

"Lunatic?" interrupts Klaus.

"Lucky man whom we'd love to meet?" finishes Ben.

Allison giggles, delighted to finally be able to tell people who know her — not just the 1960s half-truth version of her but the real her – about her new life and love.

"His name is Raymond Chestnut." She fiddles with her wedding ring as Ben grabs her hand to examine it. "Ray."

Ben and Klaus don't react to that — at least not to her. They look to each other instead, some understanding seeming to pass between them.

"Ray Chestnut?," asks Ben. "Sorry to ask, Allie, but is he… is your husband locked up right now?"

Allison leans back. That's just about the last thing she expected to hear. "Yeah." She looks between her two brothers, "How do you two know that?!"

Ben sighs and angles his head towards Klaus, accusatorily.

"Yeah, yeah, we did time together," admits Klaus. "Wow, it's a small world after all. Hey -" He looks towards Ben. "Note that, mon assistant. 'It's a small world after all.' That would make good scripture for my cul — for, uh, Destiny's Children."

Ben stays focused on Allison. "Why is your husband in prison? Everything OK?"

"Yeah, yeah," Allison reassures him. "He's a good guy. A great one actually." She doesn't want Klaus (or Ben, now - ahhh Ben!) worrying about Ray's treatment of her like her siblings understandably did with her first husband, Patrick. "It's some bullshit charge and I can't get him out."

"Hellooo? Why don't you just rumor him out?" Klaus responds immediately, like her massive problem isn't, well, even a problem.

Ben nods, clearly thinking the same thing.

Allison inwardly groans, disappointed to see that neither of them get it — not even Ben, the naturally most initiative and emphatic of the six siblings... or at least that's how Allison remembers him being. (Maybe he's changed? Oof.)

"I haven't used my power since…" She points to her throat. "I couldn't speak for a year."

Then, finally, understanding appears in both her brothers' eyes.

"Oh," says Ben. "Allison, I'm so —" he reaches out to give her yet another hug.

… but nope, his arms don't reach her. Nothing does. Ben is gone. No slow fade out, just a sudden disappearance, without even the courtesy of a goodbye whooshing sound.

Allison looks around. Maybe ghosts aren't held to the usual rules of human physics? Maybe they can teleport like Five?!

But nope, no Ben anywhere.

"KLAUS!" Allison smacks her hands down on the hard concrete. "WHAT THE —"

"I'm sorry!" He says, looking at her, the sincerity in his eyes so intense that it's almost painful. "I'm sorry," he repeats again, now looking a few inches to her left.

"Oh? He's… still here?" Allison hovers her hand to where she saw Ben a moment ago.

"Yup, clear as day to my eyes and fugly as ever," says Klaus. "I just… I ran out of juice. Unlike something else of mine that I can keep up for many hours at a time, thank you very much, my power needs frequent breaks."

"Gross," says Allison.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what he said, too."

Allison smiles at the now empty spot, miming a high-five, and wondering if Ben — unbeknownst to her — high fived back.

"But you'll bring him back, right? You'll make him corporeal again?"

Klaus blows a raspberry. "Yeah, yeah, I'll bring him back. I'll bring him back."

"Good, because you have no idea how much I've missed him," Allison says, before adding. "Hope you heard that, Ben."

"He heard," Klaus confirms. "But hey-ah! What about me?!"

"Missed you too, Klaus." She splashes him once more for good measure.

"Good." He smiles. "Good. And oh —" He listens for a moment. "Yeah, that could work. Hey Allison? Ben and I may have a way to get Ray out. Just give me an hour or two to power back up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Future chapters will bring in the other siblings! I have several other season 2 scenes in mind to rewrite with Ben... along with some missing scenes. Likely next up: Five meeting up with Klaus and Allision (and initially unbeknownst to him, Ben) to bring 'em to the family meeting at Elliot's.


	2. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our trio from chapter one meets up with Five! Or rather, Five finds them. Takes place during episode 5, just before the family meeting at Elliot's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly AU - in addition to Ben being corporeal, pretend that Allison never ran into Luther. So, Allison, Klaus, and Ben don't know that any of the others are in Dallas — yet.
> 
> I just think it would've been more interesting that way... if Five showed up out of nowhere with this trio not knowing anything about the others.

Allison, Klaus, and Ben were day drinking when it happened.

Or rather, Allison and Klaus were day drinking. Ben was day-judging. He was visible and glowering at his siblings as they fiddled with Allison’s blender in an uncoordinated attempt to concoct yet another round of margaritas.

“I’d offer you one, Benny,” Klaus was saying, “but since you didn’t live past 16, you’re technically underage.”

That earned Klaus an elbow in the chest — from Allison.

“Heyyy, my nips!” said Klaus, as Allison solicited a high five from a happy-to-accept Ben.

“Ooooh, you. are. looooving this aren’t you?” Klaus rounded on Ben. “Finding someone to gang up on me with?”

“Well... yeah.”

Allison snort-laughed.

“Hey, idiots!” Came a voice from the stairway.

The siblings pivoted around. Five!

Their oldest brother looked frustrated and impatient for just a brief moment before all the blood drained from his face. (Well, the blood _inside_ his face at least. He seemed to have some souvenirs from who-knows-whom on his forehead.)

“Ben?” Five sounded quieter, gentler than anyone in the room could ever remember.

“Hi, Five,” Ben replied, raising up a hand.

“Ben!” Five rushed forward, seeming like he was about to hug Ben, before he paused and settled on sticking out an oddly formal hand.

Ben took it.

“It’s… it’s uh, been a long time. Good to see you,” Five announced, pumping Ben’s left hand.

“Yeah, you two, Five.”

Five placed his hands in his pockets and leaned forward. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m — I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

“Well you were stuck in post-apocalyptic times, right? Not a bad excuse.”

“D’awwww” sing-spoke Klaus. “Isn’t this darling? Our ghost brother and our geriatric brother — bonding over trauma! It’s like watching one of those weirdly adorable animal pairing videos, right? Where like a three-legged puppy befriends a senile tiger?”

“Am I the puppy or the tiger?” asked Five, before holding up a finger. “DON’T. Don’t answer that!” He turned to all three of his present siblings and motioned at the door. “Come on… we gotta go.”

“Go?!” asked Allison. “Where?! Five, what the hell? We haven’t seen you in years! You teleported us to Dallas and you’re just showing up _now_?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ll have our kumbaya after-school reunion special and roast marshmallows over a bonfire later. But now, we gotta go. C’mon. They’re waiting for us.”

“They?!” asked Ben.

“Are you really that slow, too? Shame.” Five clicked his tongue at Ben, but then winked warmly. “‘They’ are Vanya, Diego, and Luther.”

Allison, Klaus, and Ben blinked for a moment.

“They’re alive?! They’re here, too? In Dallas?” asked Allison.

Five nodded.

Ben beamed.

“They’re alive. We’re all still alive,” Allison said to herself, reassuringly.

Klaus whooped. “Wahoooo! Yes! I’ll drink to that!” He yanked off the blender’s cover and poured some fresh margarita right into his mouth.

“You’ll drink to anything,” noted Ben.

Five yanked the drink out of Klaus’s hand and flashed over to the sink, dumping it out.

“Party’s over, children. We’ve got another apocalypse to stop.”

Allison snorted into the drink she was still holding while Ben just dropped his head.

“Apocalypse?!” said Klaus. “Pfffft, hellloooo is this thing broken?” He jammed a finger at Five’s scalp. “That’s not until 2019. We have…” He stuck out his fingers to count. “41 —”

“56,” corrected Ben.

“56 years to fix it!” Klaus finished, before calmly taking a seat at Allison’s kitchen table. “Chill out, little old man. Have a drink with us. Or nap, maybe? A nap always helps me when I’m cranky.”

“I’M NOT… I’m. not. cranky!” said Five. “I’m trying to save you, Klaus! I’m trying to save all of you.”

Five quieted. “There’s a new apocalypse. This Monday.”

Klaus giggled uncontrollably. Allison sat down next to him. “Mmm hmmm,” she said. “Sure.”

“What do you mean, Five?” asked Ben, the only one willing to humor him.

“I mean we fucked up again. We brought the end of the world here with us. I… I saw you all die. Again.” He sniffled. “I even saw you, Ben. Fighting against it.”

Now it was Ben’s turn to have a seat.

“I’m not drunk enough for this,” Allison said.

“Don’t believe me?!” asked Five. “Fine! Maybe Luther, Diego, or Vanya can convince you. By some divine miracle, I’ve managed to shoehorn reality into their thick little skulls.”

“They’re waiting for us?” asked Ben, sounding excited despite the circumstances. “Right now?”

“Yes,” replied Five. “And I know they’d like to see you. Especially you, Ben. Will be a nice surprise.”

“Heyyy!” Klaus said. “I may not be dearly-departed and universally-mourned-over but I’m no sight for sore eyes either. Just let me put on a shirt — someone may want to take a picture.”

“You’re coming too, right, Allison?” Five asked.

“Oh, I definitely need to see this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I'd finish up chapter 2 on the same day as the first, but this approach came to me... and I couldn't resist! 
> 
> I don't imagine that Five would react super warmingly/excitedly toward Ben, despite how much they care for each other, since Five wasn't exactly all teary-eyed and nostalgic upon reuniting with his other siblings again in 2019 either. This man is pro at muting his emotions. (Well except for rage. That he can express perfectly fine.)
> 
> Next up — Diego, Luther, and Vanya!


	3. Family Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family meeting at Elliot's — remixed with Ben.

It was a miracle. On the way over to the family meeting at Elliot’s, the siblings all agreed on something: Klaus would temporarily stop using his powers to make Ben corporeal — until the time was right.

Their reasoning was twofold: Not only did Klaus need to recharge his powers, but they also knew that the family showdown would be tense and awkward enough without immediately springing their dead brother’s spirit upon Vanya, Luther, and Diego.

No, no, they agreed to wait until some point in the conversation when they could appropriately — gently — make the big reveal.

But then, not two minutes into their mostly-jubilant reunion, Luther brought it up.

“Klaus, is Ben here?

And Klaus couldn’t help himself.

“Oh, uh… no. Sadly, our oh-so sweet, kind-hearted brother dearest whom you all know and love so much didn’t make it.” His hands glowed blue. “But there’s this prick who keeps following me around.”

Ben slowly materialized next to Diego, who jumped back. 

“Holy shit!” Luther and Diego expressed the correct sentiment. 

Diego was quicker to act. He flung himself at Ben, nearly toppling both of them over, as they tightly embraced. 

Luther circled the two, gaping, before wrapping his arms around Ben from behind.

Vanya just looked confused. “Who…?”

“Oh yeah, right.” Five said. “That’s our _other_ brother. He’s dead but Klaus can summon him. Apparently.”

“Huh.”

Five had talked Vanya through the apocalypse, the time travel, the adoption, and the vigilante superpowers, but he hadn’t gotten to Ben yet. Didn’t want to freak her out, you know?.

“Vanny! Meet Ben,” said Klaus, tossing jazz hands his way. “Interests include dressing like a rejected Hot Topic sales clerk, reading historical fiction, and haunting my ass.”

Vanya smiled, deeply unsure of which brother was now the strangest.

After their hug, Diego cupped Ben’s face in his hands and just stared, like Ben was the 8th wonder of the world. (Or better yet, a knife.) “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“So good to talk to you, Diego.”

“I missed you, brother.”

“You, too.” Ben’s throat sounded sore.

He turned to Vanya. “Hi, Vanny.”

“Hi,” Vanya held her arms up, ready to receive love from yet another one of her apparent siblings. 

They hugged, Ben cradling her like fragile glass.

“Missed you.”

“That’s good to hear,” Vanya didn’t bring up the whole ~dead thing. She wasn’t sure of the social graces involved in that.

“Alright, so,” Five motioned to the stairs. “Let’s talk business. The world’s imminent end.”

“Jesus, Five!” Diego protested. “Give us a moment to catch up with Ben.”

“Yeah,” agreed Luther. “We’re not dead yet.” He looked to Ben. “Sorry.”

Five softened. “Alright, five minutes.”

The Hargreeves all headed upstairs, Diego not letting Ben out of his grasp until they sat down next to each other on the couch. 

“So, how long have you been…” Diego motioned to the air. “Around?”

“Klaus and I arrived in Dallas three years, nine months, and nine days ago.”

“No, I —”

“He means...” said Luther.

“Ah, they’re wondering how long you’ve been frolicking throughout the spiritual realm as my woeful fairy god-brother.” Klaus translated. “Diego’s worried you’ve seen some kinky stuff.”

“NO,” Diego said, “I’m wondering how long you’ve been around without us knowing it. How… how long...” He pauses. “How long we could have been seeing and talking to you, if only we'd believed Klaus.”

Klaus looked down.

“It’s… it’s been a while,” admitted Ben.

“How while?”

“Klaus summoned me right after my funeral.”

The siblings had nothing to say for themselves. Allison, on the other side of Ben, wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Shit,” said Luther.

The silence continued on, guilt and regret hanging in the air.

Klaus broke the tension.

“But heyyy-ya! Don’t cry over spilled ghost, fam. He’s here now! We’re talking, we’re vibing, we’re bonding. Right?” 

“What’s it like?” asked Diego. “Being…?”

“Being dead?” asked Ben. 

“Having to rely on knock-off Criss Angel here to have a body?” asked Five.

“Seeing all those leather pants?” asks Luther.

Klaus hissed at Five and Luther.

“Being around without us ever even knowing it? Without us acknowledging you?” said Allison, more of a whisper into Ben’s side.

Ben took a deep breath (or seemed to — could ghosts breath?). The other siblings waited.

“It was… not great,” Ben admitted. It was the understatement of the timeline, but he didn’t have the proper words to express his frustration and pain. He also didn’t want to burden his siblings with any more guilt. He got it.

“I’m sorry,” said Allison, giving his shoulder yet another squeeze.

“I’m sorry,” Diego yanked Ben back toward his side.

“Sorry,” said Luther.

“Sounds like I probably wasn’t that great a sister either,” said Vanya. “I’m sorry.”

Ben sniffed. “Thanks. Don’t beat yourselves up too much though. I know better than anyone that Klaus can be hard to believe when he’s inebriated.”

Klaus just nodded, unable to look any of his siblings in the eye.

“But being here together now — it’s amazing,” Ben said, earning more shoulder squeezes from Allison and Diego.

“Right, so — the apocalypse!” Five announced. “Shall we get back to it?”

No one protested.

“We have until Monday. We have six days.”

“Is it Vanya?” asks Klaus.

“ _Klaus!_ ” said Allison.

“What? It’s usually Vanya. By the way, you’re all welcome that me and Bentacles saved the day back in 2019. At the Icarus theater, remember?”

“And a few minutes later, Earth was destroyed, killing every human being in existence,” Luther pointed out.

“Pfffft, tomato, tomatoe. We're all still alive. Mostly. Wooo hoo!”

“The apocalypse, Five,” said Vanya, “Do you have any leads?”

“Yeah, we have one.” He handed Allison a photo.

“Whoa, is that _dad?_!?” said Ben, looking over her shoulder.

“Yeah,” said Diego. “And he’s standing on the grassy knoll.”

“Diego and I have been trying to talk to dad about what exactly this means,” said Five. “So far, we’ve got nothing.”

“Not nothing,” said Diego. “We know he’s planning to kill Kennedy.”

“But we don’t know who or what sets doomsday in motion. Could be Kennedy, could be something entirely independent. But if we know something changes the timeline, we have to make it right again.”

“Yeah, but _how_ , if we don’t know what’s broken?” asked Allison.

“Oh come on, do the math,” said Diego. “We know dad’s having shady-ass meetings with some shady-ass people. We know he’s on the grassy knoll in three days to kill the president. So I think we all know what we have to do.”

“Confront dad?” suggested Ben.

“Kill dad,” supplied Diego.

Ben laughed.

“Oh you’re judge-y now too, huh?” teased Diego. “If anyone should want to kill dad, I’d think it’d be you.”

“Ah,” said Klaus. “But then, Benny and I’s epic ghost-seance partnership would become a verbally abusive trio. Pass.”

“None of us are supposed to be here, right?” Vanya got back on topic. “I mean, what if it’s us who cause the apocalypse? Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?”

Klaus shook his head.

“Oh c’mon, what have you done to not screw up, _period_?” Ben asked him.

“Oh no, my powers - I can feel them slipping away,” Klaus threatened. “Ahhh, Ben… noooo. Come back.”

He stayed completely solid. 

“Diego’s been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald,” said Luther.

“And you’re working for Jack Ruby!” Diego retorted.

“Allison has been very involved in local politics,” said Klaus.

“Okay, _you_ started a cult!” said Allison.

“Thank you!” Ben low-fived her.

“And Ben went full poltergeist to get Allison’s husband out of jail!” announced Klaus.

“Yeah? And who made that possible?”

“I’m just a nanny on a farm,” Vanya reasoned. “I don’t have anything to do with all that.”

“That’s nothing _just_ about you, sis,” Ben said, warmly.

The arguing continued among the others for several more minutes. Words like “JFK” and “You all died… whoops, sorry Ben” were tossed around.

Finally, Luther had enough.

“Okay, I’m out. Love you, Ben; let’s chat later. But I can’t keep humoring the rest of you. It’s time we all grew the hell up. Sad that Ben somehow seems to be the most mature.”

He headed downstairs, followed by Five and Diego, who tried to stop him. 

Klaus, Allison, Vanya, and Ben stayed behind, not wanting to get involved in the drama any more than they already had.

“You know, I could really go for some tacos right now,” said Klaus, munching on some ambrosia salad to tide him over. “Allison? Tacos?”

“Shouldn’t we wait?” She pointed to the argument happening on the stairs.

“You know those guys. I mean, it could take forever for them to bro it out. Vanya, tacos? Ben, ghost peppers?”

Ben rolled his eyes but agreed. A meal with his family? Even if he couldn’t have a bite, he’d savor every moment with his sisters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blahh, I may end up editing this one later. Juggling so many characters was super challenging.
> 
> As for the next chapter, I’m debating between a few scenes: The light super with darling Reginald, a Ben-Diego heart-to-heart, or the Allison/Vanya/Klaus salon scene — now with Ben. TBD.


	4. A Not-So-Lightly Tense Supper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben actually gets his say.

Ben had felt some light phantom butterflies fluttering in his stomach upon reuniting with his non-Klaus siblings... and now, the same butterflies were ranging full-out guerilla warfare at the idea of sharing a room with his father.

And he didn’t even plan to talk to dear dickhead Reginald. Ben had insisted that Klaus _not_ make him corporeal. His death was miserable enough without needing to be on the receiving end of one of their father’s infamous staredowns. 

Plus, Ben hadn’t even been invited to the light supper! Rude. (Well ok, that was probably on account of Ben being dead and his father having no clue that he had ever existed in the first place. But still — wow, _dismissive much, dad??_ )

Fortunately, the tense elevator ride up the tiki bar only validated Ben’s decision. When Luther, erm, expressed extensive flatulence, Ben had never felt so glad to not have a sense of smell.

“Arrgh, Luther,” Klaus said, then looked to Ben. “ _Now_ , do you want to trade places with me?”

\------------------ 

The meeting was going along about as well as expected (AKA not well at all), when one of the siblings — Allison, attagirl — acknowledged Ben.

“Seven. You adopted seven of us. One of us uh…” she glanced behind Klaus, as did the rest of the siblings. “Isn’t here.”

“Dead,” Diego supplied. “One of us is dead.”

“Ah,” Reginald cocked an eyebrow. “Yet more evidence of your collective incompetence. A noble, well-adjusted team would never leave one of their own behind.”

“It wasn’t our faul—” Deigo blurted out reflexively before Five stopped him with a hand to the elbow. _Leave it._

“Be it illness, malice, or accident, death at a young age is a sign of unforgivable weakness,” their father continued. “You mustn't…”

Klaus tuned him out and turned around to Ben. The two shared a look.

“You want this?” Klaus asked.

Ben nodded, and underneath the table, hidden from their father’s view, Klaus’s hands glowed blue.

The rest of the family then saw a knife float out of Diego’s back pocket, felt the table (and everything on it) vibrant, and the knife float on toward Reginald, stopping to hover an inch from the patriarch's forehead. 

Reginald jolted his head back and the knife followed, coming even closer to striking.

“What is the meaning of this childish nonsense?” he asked. “Who is doing this? Who?!” 

He looked at Diego. “Is it you? Part of your untamed so-called ‘powers’?”

Diego shook his head, equally disturbed and confused, while Klaus looked ready to erupt with laughter.

The knife moved backward, striking a watermelon in the middle of the table - once, twice, three times. It split open, and seeds began to float out, seemingly of their own accord.

Everyone looked on in awe (well, everyone except Klaus, who was now laugh-sobbing directly into his drink) as the seeds slowly arranged themselves into words.

B…E….

N….I….C….E

O...R….

D...I...E.

……(yes the seeds made actual ellipses here)

V…I...O….L...E...N….T….L….T….Y... !

Reginald snatched his notebook and rose up. “Very well, if you sophomoric malcontents aren’t interested in serious conversation…”

“BOO!” Ben popped into everyone’s view next to Reginald, who stepped back a foot.

"And who might you be?!”

“One of your other sons.” Ben waved. “Hiya pops! I’m the dead one. Wanna talk about whose fault that was?”

He disappeared again.

Reginald looked around, then found himself forcibly slammed back down into his chair.

Ben reappeared with his hands on Reggie’s shoulder. “Talk. With. Them.”

Klaus applauded and whistled. Loudly. “Encore! Encore!”

Allison offered up a few slow claps too. The other siblings just stared.

Ben grabbed a chair from one of the many empty tables and screeched it across the floor until he brought it between Reginald and Klaus. He sat down, folded his arms across his chest, and gave Reginald a daring stare.

Fuck it. He was dead already. Reginald might be able to hurt the others but he at least was untouchable — usually quite literally. Now was the time to act brave, even if he didn’t quite feel that way. 

Five casually pointed Ben’s way. “Reginald Hargreeves, meet Number Six. Ben.”

Reginald stayed seated. 

“Quick rundown,” Five continued. “Luther, superstrength. Klaus can commune with the dead, hence…” he gestured to Ben. “Allison can rumor anyone to do anything.”

“Except she never uses it” Diego added.

“I heard a rumor you punched yourself in the face,” Allison said.

Cue Diego face-punching himself. “Damnit!”

Ben got up to comfort Diego, who let him.

Vanya showed off her powers next (to impressive, yet non-fatal results for once).

Then Reginald brought up Ben. “And you? What did you _used_ to be able to do? I assume I must have had good reason to take you on, even if you didn’t live up to your potential.”

“I can still do it,” Ben said through gritted teeth. 

“But _that_ you definitely don’t want to see,” Luther said. “Trust us. Not a good parlor trick.”

“Fine.”

“Look,” Diego brought things back around to his favorite subject. “We know that you’re involved in a plot to assassinate the president.”

“You were recently hospitalized, isn’t that correct?” Reginald asked. “You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia.”

“Am I? Explain this?” Diego pushed a photo over to him.

“That’s you. That’s two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the president’s gonna get shot.”

“Well…” Reginald began. “I suppose you’ve solved it.”

Ben smiled encouragingly at Diego.

“You’ve single-handedly unearthed my nefarious plot.”

“Yeah, he did!” Ben commented to Klaus, forgetting that the others could now hear his play-by-plays.

“Is that what you want to hear?” Reginald finished, and Ben shut up. “You fancy yourself a do-gooder, the last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you’re a desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning. More succinctly, a man in over his head.”

“You’re wr… wrong.” Diego said, stuttering.

Ben noticed tears. “Should I bring the Horror out now?” he whispered to Klaus.

Klaus nodded, though neither brother knew Ben would actually do it. 

“Forget about the president,” Five moved on. “We have a catastrophic war coming in five days. We need to figure out how to stop it.”

“War?” said Reginald, like it was barely more concerning than a stubbed toe. “Men will always be at war with each other.”

“No, this isn’t just _some_ war,” said Five. “I’m talking about a doomsday. The end of the world.”

“Well…” Reginald gestured around the table. “You’re the special ones, aren’t you? Why don’t you band together and do something about it?”

Ben stood up and whipped around to face Reginald again, using his eyes — rather than a knife — to threaten him this time.

“They _have_ banded together. They _are_ trying to stop it. But they shouldn’t have to. We’re human! Just human. Sure, we may have special abilities, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have emotions. We have hopes, interests, and dreams outside of constantly putting ourselves in harm’s way thanks to you. 

Allison’s a talented actress and an amazing mother. Diego’s extraordinarily kind... even when he’s acting like too much of an ass for anyone to notice. Luther’s a big ole softie underneath his threatening exterior. Vanya’s the best musician I’ve ever heard and is unbelievably resilient despite how hard you tried to break her. Five’s a freakin’ genius — with science, history, math, everything. And Klaus… Klaus somehow manages to remain optimistic and believe in people despite all the shitty cards he’s been dealt. Fuck, I don't know how he does it. He’s been my best friend, my only friend, for more than 17 years… and I love him even when I can't stand the very sight of him.”

But you don’t care about any of that, do you? DO YOU, Dad? You didn’t care about us as kids and you don’t care about us now. Goodness, you meet your children from the future and the first thing you do is insult them??! No interest in getting to know us??

You ruined our childhood, treated us as numbered commodities instead of kids. We were KIDS! Just innocent kids! None of us asked for this. And now, we’re all screwed-up adults.

So, no, I won’t have this. You don’t get to roll your eyes now and grimace in disgust. You don't get to act all high-and-mighty and separate yourself from our hurt. You made us this way.”

Ben banged his fists on the table, finished.

No one spoke for nearly a minute. The only sound was Allison slurping her drink.

“Let’s go,” Ben said to his siblings. “We don’t need him.”

He walked away, and Klaus immediately went after, clasping Ben on the back from behind. “Hot diggity fuck! That was badass. Check out my guardian angel, bitches!”

The other siblings soon followed them out, Five included.

Once in the elevator, Diego patted Ben on the shoulders too. “I’m proud of you, bro. Even if you called me a dumbass.”

“He only called you an ass,” Luther corrected. “The ‘dumb’ is just implied.”

“Dad was really _that_ horrible to us?” Vanya asked. “Now I’m glad I don’t remember.”

Allison nudged Ben with her elbow. “Want to write my next award acceptance speech?”

Five settled his hands into his pockets. “Ben was always my favorite.”

“And who made all that possible with his magic touch, hmmmmm?” Klaus sing-songed. “ _Woooow, Klaus! Thank you, Klaus! You’re our savior, Klau —_ ”

Right then, Ben vanished from everyone’s view but Klaus’s.

“KLAUS!!” said Allison, Diego, Luther, and Five.

“Sorry, I’m tiiiiired. Arrrrgh. Casper will return from intermission again tomorrow." Klaus elbowed the space that now appeared Ben-less. “I love-hate you too, by the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was that out of character for Ben? Maybe. But then again, Ben hasn't gotten a chance to speak with dear daddy in 17 years sooo we don't really know how he'd react. 
> 
> Plus, in the canon version of this scene, Ben clearly had something he desperately wanted to say. (Hence, the possession of Klaus.) I wanted to explore what that might've been. 
> 
> Next up: a short, light chapter — Ben meets Jill... as himself, no possession necessary.
> 
> Edit: a few commentors have pointed out that if Five hadn’t chatted with Reggie after dinner, he wouldn’t have thought to time travel back a few seconds to save the day in the finale. TRUE. But uuhhhh *waves hands around magically* let’s pretend Five went back upstairs after this? (Shrugs)idk guess that’s why I’m not a professional screenwriter.


	5. Jill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben talks to Jill... as himself, no possession needed!

“I want to talk to Jill.”

“Jill? Jill... Oh, that’s the uh... Swedish girl with the lisp?”

“No," Ben sighed. _Really, Klaus?_ “Jill has brown skin, glasses, almond-shaped eyes you can get lost in...”

Klaus gasped. “Ooooh, you _like_ her like her? Alert the schoolyard, children of destiny — Benny Boy’s got himself a crush!” He giggled and waved his hands around in a little dance.

“Shut up. It’s not — I just want her to know how wonderful she is. She could do such much more — _be_ so much more — outside of this shitshow of a cult. Someone has to tell her. _I_ want to tell her. Please, Klaus, I—”

“Shh shh shh shh,” Klaus held up a hand. “You had me at ‘hips you can hump.’”

“Eyes you can get lost in.”

“Whatever. You… trying to _talk to a girl_? This I gotta see.” His hands glowed blue. “C’mon, Pinocchio, let’s make you into a real boy.” He stood up, ready to look for Jill around the mansion.

“Wait,” Ben said. “Shouldn’t I change? Into aquamarine clothes? I’m thinking I can pretend to be a new recruit. That way, she’ll feel more comfortable talking to me, and I'll slowly ease her into realizing your bullshit.”

“Sure, let’s raid a closet.”

Huh. Ben had expected more of an argument from his brother. But he should have known that Klaus was always down to steal… or ahem, borrow. No justification needed.

* * *

Unfortunately, the closet raiding didn’t work. Well, technically, it did — there were plenty of greenish-blueish frocks around that looked close to Ben’s size — but he couldn’t bring himself to change… literally.

The zipper of his leather coat wouldn’t budge. Ditto his pants and his shoes. It was as if his clothes had merged with his body. Removing anything from his corporeal form was as impossible as peeling off his skin.

And yes, Klaus definitely made a joke about the fact that _nothing_ — not even the commands of a prophet himself — would enable Ben to unbuckle his pants.

“Great, now I’m going to stand out!” Ben wasn’t amused. 

“Oh, the ghost is worried about looking suspicious?” Klaus teased. “What about the tattoos? There has to be a marker around here somewhere. We could try giving you my ink... ouija-boarding you up!”

“I’d rather die again, thanks.”

* * *

They found her by the northeast garden.

“Julia, meet Ben.”

“Jill,” Ben corrected out of the corner of his mouth.

“Sorry. Julia meet Jill.”

“Try again…”

“Julia —”

“Hi, I’m Ben.” Ben stuck his hand out to her.

But she ignored it, pulling him into a hug instead. Ben was never so thankful for one of Destiny Children’s hippy social norms.

“Hi! I’m Jill. It’s nice to meet you, Ben. Are you interested in becoming one of Destiny’s Children?”

“Yeah, I’m—”

“Gaaaawd, YES! He can’t wait!” interrupted Klaus. “Young Benjamin Har— Har…berrrrg...son...Benjamin Harbergson is an enormous fan of mine. Worships me, really. Would follow me around everywhere if he could, this one. Endorses each and every one of my opinions and decisions, always. Without complaint. Can’t get enough of my eternal wisdom.”

“Oh?” so Jill, looking at Ben approvingly. “Do you have a favorite line of scripture?”

“Yeah, um… let's see... I quite like 'slam it to the left if you’re having a good time. Shake it to the right if you know that you feel fine.'”

“I love that, too! Perfectly encapsulates the mind-body connection, calling on us to emote more freely within a constrained world, releasing ourselves from passé expectations.”

“Yeaaah, that. Exactly. Really spices up my life. Do you, uh, have a favorite verse?”

“Well, I couldn't possibly pick just one! But lately, I’ve found myself especially drawn to Celine 13:22 — ‘Near, far, wherever you are. I believe that the heart does go on.’”

“Right, yeah… beautiful!” Ben said, while simultaneously giving the middle finger to Klaus behind his back. “So, care to tell me about yourself, Jill? I’d like to get to know the others here.”

Ok fine, Ben already knew loads about Jill. But despite dreaming of this moment for so, so long — getting to talk to Jill (Jill!) — he now felt completely unsure of himself. He didn't know what else to say or ask.

And call Ben crazy, but he wasn’t too keen to reveal to his crush that he had actually known her for over two years — as the invisible adopted brother of her beloved sham prophet.

“Well, I’m originally from California, the San Francisco area," Jill said. "How about you?”

“Uh, Indiana. I’m from Indiana.” He decided to name one of the blandest places possible, in hopes of Jill quickly moving on and talking more about herself than him. 

But Jill’s eyes lit up, as she revealed one thing Ben hadn’t actually known. “Really?! What part of Indiana? I have some distant family from there.”

“Uh, Pawnee.”

“Hmm, can't say I know of it.”

Suddenly, Klaus broke the bubble, clasping them both on the back.

“Isn't this a treat? Children of Destiny connecting… getting along, becoming one in conversation. Gah, I’m so proud of my children! Hey Ben, why don’t you help Jill with the garden?”

“Sure,” he said. “Thanks,” he whispered to Klaus, glad to have some direction.

“Yo! Children!” came a fourth voice.

They all turned around. Diego. 

“Ahhh and here’s another loyal new member,” Klaus pulled him in. “Jenna, met Diego. Diego Har… Harper...s-Bizarre.”

Jill immediately pulled him into a hug, as Diego reached for a knife in his back pocket. 

“Nice to meet you, Diego. We were just talking about scripture,” Jill said. “What’s your favorite verse?”

“My favorite verse?”

“Yes, as bequeathed to the Children of Destiny by the prophet.”

“So, my favorite thing Klaus says? I quite like ‘bye.’”

“Mmm, yeah. That’s a great one,” Ben agreed.

Klaus hissed at them both.

Diego grabbed his brothers by the elbows. “Come on, prophet and prophet’s newest follower, we gotta go.” 

“Go? Go where?” Jill asked.

“To the back of a downtown alleyway,” said Diego, yanking his brothers away.

“Oh."

“Bye, Jill!” Ben called out.

“Bye, nice to—”

Ben disappeared. No, literally. Jill saw the man pop out of existence.

She clasped her chest. The prophet truly worked in mysterious ways!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaah, that turned into pure crack. Whoops.
> 
> Oh and as for Pawnee, Indiana? It either exists as a real town in the Umbrella Academy universe... or Ben is a Parks & Rec fan. Take your pick.
> 
> What's up next? Eerrr... I'm not saying. *grimace emoji*


	6. Ben?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five scenes. One chapter. Lots of pain. All told from Klaus's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. If it helps, I hate myself for this too.

_This is a terrible rave,_ thinks Klaus. 

Sure, the strobe lights are adequate, but what’s with all the wind and dead bodies stuck to the ceiling?! The ideal dead body count at a rave is zero.

Except, _fuck,_ this isn’t a rave. This is an FBI building in downtown Dallas. Allison and Diego are passed out beside him and he feels awfully ready to slip into his PJs and go nighty-night, too.

Yes, a nice, long lie down sounds like the perfect refresher right about now. Then, he and the fam to get back to the ole stopping-Vanya-from-ending-the-world-(again) business in the morning. Mmm, perfect. Get ready to cue the triumphant music, lads. But first, some much-deserved ZzZZzzs.

Klaus closes his eyes… but then immediately reopens them. Were those a pair of familiar shoes he spotted? _Ah, yes, look who finally decided to join the not-party! Welcome to Club FBI, bro._

Ben looks at Klaus. 

Klaus looks at Ben. He wants to open his mouth to beat Ben to the punch in another classic round of sarcasm, but the look on his brother’s face stops him. 

It’s a look Klaus has seen before — not from Ben (thankfully) but a few times back in Vietnam. Members of his squad wore it when they were about to charge forward, set on conducting a particularly stupid (ahem, risky) combat move. It was a look of both peace and of terror… conviction and sorrow. And bravery, so much senseless bravery.

Fuck, Klaus has so much he wants to tell this idiot. This man who has practically been a spouse to him for over 17 years — not in the icky Allison-Luther romantical sense, but in the we-codependently-spend-so-much-time-together and we-claim-to-know-everything-about-each-other-though-we-keep-many-many-emotional-secrets-locked-the-fuck-down senses. 

Like a couple who had resigned long ago to stay together for the kids. For better and for worse, until death did not they part.

Klaus wants to tell Ben thanks for all the times he suggested they watch _The Great British Bake-Off_ or _Love Actually_ or some other comforting schmaltz while nursing a hangover. He wants to thank Ben for introducing him to chocolate milk when they were kids and mimosas when they were teens (albeit the second one may have just been an attempt to shoehorn some orange juice into Klaus’s diet, the sneaky bastard). For suggesting — er, begging — him to eat an omelette or some toast, rather than a pot brownie, for Sunday brunch.

Klaus wants to — _needs_ to — tell Ben he that kinda-sort-totally looks like Daniel Dae Kim in the right lighting. 

Klaus wants to say he’s sorry for not figuring out earlier (much, much earlier) that he could make his brother corporeal. That he’s sorry he’s so selfish. So stubborn. So afraid of being truly vulnerable and sharing his full self with anyone (barely even Dave.)

So weak. Yes, Klaus wants to say how sorry he is that Ben got stuck with the weakest brother — that it had to be him, rather than any of the other siblings — who could talk to the dead. Who could be his tether — his useless, chaotic, sexy tether — to the world. 

Klaus wants to apologize for pressuring Ben to not go into The Light. For being a liar. A damn liar who saddled his long-suffering brother with a miserable afterlife.

Klaus was (is) just afraid of losing Ben, of being truly alone, and he has never known how to tell him that. 

He wants to say so many things right now. But he can’t. The look in his brother’s eyes is too blinding. and he’s too… darn... tired.

So, instead, Klaus makes like a good ‘lil medium and pours the teeny tiny last bit of energy he has into his powers. He channels his usually-cursed talent into helping Ben accomplish whatever plan he might have for dealing with End of the World 2.0. 

He focuses, focuses, focuses and sees Ben turn around, gliding, closer and closer to the heart of the Vanya-centric storm. ( _Hurricane Vanya? Vanya-nado?_ )

Klaus sees Ben pause for just a brief moment before phrasing into the glowing room. 

Then, _then_ , Klaus finally allows his eyes to close.

* * *

The next thing Klaus remembers is waking up from a blackout-induced slumber. His bones ache, his head hurts like hell, his throat is drier than sand, even his groin feels odd. 

But no, that can’t be right. His nose is bleeding. Plus, Allison and Diego are here, looking like they’re feeling the exact same shitty way. So, this mustn’t be a hangover. 

Sure, Allison maybe. But Diego? Mister “my body is a temple” would never drink with Klaus.

Huh. So, what’s happening then?

“Are you ok?” he hears Vanya ask.

“Physically or emotionally?” he responds, though the answer to both is no.

Then, Klaus looks more closely at Vanya — relief evident on her face — and he remembers. He remembers the strobing lights, the hurricane-force winds, Vanya — wait, VANYA! She’s alive.

“Did we save the world or what?” he asks. 

“I think so,” Allison reasons. “Building’s still here.”

They did it?!? They actually flippin’ did it?! Praise Jesus and Christian Bale, Vanya’s alive! They’re all —

No, wait. _Who_ did it? Who got to Vanya? He had seen Allison fail, saw her valiantly push her way down the hallway, only to be slammed back against the other side of the reception desk. Ditto Diego… and he had knives! Like some sort of psycho sideways rock climber, using them to pull himself forward against the wind. 

And Klaus himself had also failed. (Shocker of the timeline.)

Oh shit, that must mean… Ben? 

Hell yeah! Where is that son of a robot bitch? Better get his transparent ass over here for a celebration stat.

Klaus would make Ben corporeal so they could honor his Ghost Captain America heroism properly. Let’s see, let’s see, how would Ben like to reward himself? A smooch with that Joan girl? A great big, expensive ~~dildo~~ (no) ~~bong~~ (no) book?

“Ben!” he calls out in the powered part of his mind, as per usual. “Get over here. Shots on me!”

But the message isn’t getting delivered; it’s not even sending. Klaus tries again and again and again but nope; calling out to Ben feels like trying to start a vibrator without any batteries in it. It's no use.

He feels even more nauseated than before. His heart feels like it’s taking a pause.

Does this mean….?

No. No, no, no. It couldn’t. NO.

Ben is surely just out of Klaus’s range. It had happened a few times before, after a particularly vicious fight between the two brothers. (For the record, Klaus was always right no matter the argument.)

When they were 19, Ben lived in LA with Allison for a few weeks. When they were 23, he fucked off to Paris for a month. (Paris, France or Texas? Klaus never found out.) And twice, Ben had announced he was off to a better place: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Each of those times, Klaus couldn't connect with Ben.

So, that has to be the case now, right? Klaus isn't sure of exactly how close Ben needs to be, so maybe the range is super short.

Maybe Ben had felt extra heroic and shit after saving Vanya… and had headed off to rescue/haunt Five. Or Luther. Lord knows those two needed help.

Yes, that has to be it.

Sure, Klaus could ask Vanya about it, see if Ben had told her “brb popping over to the Grand Canyon for a hot sec” or something, but nah. He already knows his theory is right.

No sense in asking and risk learning otherwise.

* * *

But that prick still didn’t show up that evening. Ditto the next morning, including when Klaus vaulted down Elliot’s stairs, hopeful upon hearing Five and Luther’s voices. 

So, looks like he has to move on to acceptance. (Which happens to be one of the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, right? Or is it a stage of grief? Whatever. Klaus is terrible at both.)

He goes to Vanya for confirmation.

“So, Ben, huh? Gone forever, isn’t he?” _Please deny it._

She doesn’t. “He traded his life for mine, while he saved the world in the process.”

“Pfft. Show-off.” 

The pain is immense and immediate, but he can’t display it. He knows it'll spill over and devour him, rendering him even more useless to his still-alive siblings than usual.

He also doesn’t want to make Vanya feel Ben-induced guilt like he has for so, so many years. (Ben-guilt™ = The worst kind of guilt. From the makers of Dave-angst™.)

So, he acts like his usual happy-go-lucky self that his siblings have all come to know and ~~love~~ tolerate.

Yet, there's something else Klaus wants to know.

“But did he… say anything about me?”

He makes an exuberant show of rolling his eyes to convey that he’s not _really_ expecting Vanya to answer in the affirmative. That he’s just being his usual narcissistic self. After all, Ben had been saving the whole freakin’ world… while knowing he was about to head into The Light and leave everything he had ever known behind forever. Surely he hadn’t been thinking of his (most) screwed-up, useless Jesus-muppet of a brother at the time.

But Vanya nods. 

_Oh shit._ Ben’s last words better not have been “tell Klaus he needs a haircut” or “tell Klaus he dresses like a discount Captain Jack Sparrow.” Klaus swears he’ll find a way to drag Ben back out of that Light just so he can kill him again.

“He wanted me to tell you that he was too scared to go to the light.”

Frick. Something sentimental?! That’s even worse.

“It wasn’t you that made him stay.”

Klaus chuckles. Ben couldn’t have told him that himself?! Years ago, ideally?

“Oh, that little shit-heel.”

He decides to be real with Vanya; if Ben was vulnerable with her, he can be, too. “All these years, and I thought it was _my_ fault that he didn’t take his ticket to heaven.”

He smiles to himself. _Are You happy now, Ben?_

He wishes he could hear the answer.

* * *

Klaus and his siblings gather in a circle to time-travel away just in the nick of… well, time. Déjà vu. 

At least they all look sexy as hell in black. Get ready, 2019. 

“Everyone ready?” Five asks.

“Yeah, let’s do it,” says Luther.

“Okay.”

The six of them gather in more closely, hands on each other's shoulders and in palms. 

“Wait!” Klaus finds himself saying. There should be seven of them.

The siblings all turn to him, eyes mixed with anticipation and annoyance, and he realizes his mistake.

This is it: The whole group now. 

But he doesn’t want to share what he was thinking. Everyone’s happy and ready to get a move on. 

Allison, Diego, Luther, Five, even Vanya — they’re not thinking of Ben. Sure, they had loved seeing his corporeal form over the past few days, but that was a rarity; Ben isn't still a constant presence in anyone else’s mind but Klaus’s.

So he improvises. He glances around the yard and spots a cowboy hat. It looks a little cheap, but hey, it’s vintage (or it will be in 2019 at least). Nice. 

He grabs it, runs back into the family circle, and presents his new accessory with a flourish.

Yeah, the uh… the hat. _That’s_ what he felt was missing. Totally.

* * *

Five opens the suitcase and they land in… the Umbrella Academy. 

It’s April 2, 2019, AKA the day after Apocalypse 1.0. 

“Did we actually succeed at something??” Klaus asks. “That’s incredible.”

He hugs Vanya. He feels especially close to her now after their chat in the car. She knows he’s in pain, even if not the full extent of it.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I need a drink," he shares. "In fact, I need several.” He deserves it, and he bets even Ben would agree. (No, he wouldn’t.)

He rushes off to the one thing he actually likes about the Academy: the bar, which his father always kept stocked.

But then, he hears someone else mention Ben.

“Why is there a painting of Ben over the mantlepiece?” Diego looks at the wall like it's about to attack him. 

Huh, would you look at that! It _is_ Ben — looking alive and well (if a wee bit smug). It's much better than the fugly now-broken statue outside.

Is Ben… alive?!?! Like, not just returned-from-the-light-to-continue-haunting-Klaus’s-messy-ass alive… but _alive_ alive? Might Five’s latest foreway into group time travel somehow screwed things up again... but in a good way?

Ooooh, Klaus can’t wait to find Ben in the house. What should he gift him with first: a hug or a punch?

But their dad (who was supposed to be dead, thank you very much) interrupts his thoughts.

“I knew you’d show up eventually.”

“You’re alive.” Luther is ever so insightful.

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

 _Because you off-ed yourself a few days ago,_ Klaus thinks _. Hallelujah!_

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right…” Luther stammers out. “I’m just happy that we’re home and together again.”

“Home? This isn’t your home.”

_Whoa, rude, Pops. At least present us with an official eviction notice first._

“What are you talking about?” Allison asks. “This is the Umbrella Academy.”

“Wrong again.” _Is amnesia contagious? Did Vanya somehow pass it on to their dad?_ “This... is the Sparrow Academy.”

Daddy-Should-Be-Dead and Dearest looks to the landing upstairs, and five figures appear on cue.

Wait, no - six. There’s a floating green cube in the mix. (Or is Klaus drunk already?)

Oh and there’s a seventh person downstairs, directly below the others.

“Dad, who the hell are these assholes?” Ben says.

_Wait, Ben?!??!_

Yes, Ben. He _is_ alive! Ha.

But, oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no.

He is having one hell of a bad hair day. He looks… emo. 

What the fuck, Ben? Klaus is tempted to hug/punch/tackle him, along with a quip about how he looks like Peter Parker from the worst scene in the worst _Spider-Man_ movie. Or, perhaps he should start by asking about the wispy “mustache,” which looks more like a chocolate milk stain.

But then Klaus notices something else. Something even more concerning than Ben’s liberal use of hair gel: his eyes.

There’s no recognition in them. No spark, no energy. No eagerness to insult Klaus's new hat. 

No, Ben doesn't know Klaus. His getup isn’t some horrible, belated April Fool’s joke. Ben appears to be genuinely annoyed (maybe even disgusted?) by Klaus and his other time-traveling siblings. And Ben is a horrendous actor. He's not faking it.

Something’s gone wrong (again) and now his brother doesn’t remember him… maybe he never even knew him.

Klaus composes a poem in his head, then says it out loud. 

“Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else needs season three like they need their Zoloft?
> 
> Anywayy, thanks so much for reading!
> 
> A finale confession: This entire fic was inspired by a single moment — when Klaus looks regretful/confused by his own actions between saying "wait!" and grabbing the cowboy hat. I'm convinced that the "wait" was really a "wait! we need, Ben!" It broke my heart... and maybe now yours, too.
> 
> Oh and I recently published a short one-shot called "Lift Me Up" which I like to think of as an unofficial prequel to THIS story.


	7. Diego & Klaus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego and Klaus share a hotel room back in 2019. Stunted emotional talk ensues.

Turns out, Sir Reginald Hargreeves wasn’t ready to roll out a welcome mat nor fluff up any pillows for his six adopted kids from another timeline to make themselves at home at the Sparrow Academy. 

He kicked them out immediately, leaving the chaotic superhero Brady Bunch without a place to spend the night.

Vanya suggested that they see if her apartment still belonged to her. Diego offered up breaking into the police station. Klaus proposed a homeless shelter with “horrible fluorescent lighting but half-decent blueberry muffins.”

Allison won out. She heard a rumor that a nearby 5-star hotel had three suites available for the low low price of free, premium breakfast buffet included.

She was surprised none of her siblings pressed for six rooms. (Or maybe she shouldn’t have been? No one wanted to be alone.) Anyway, Luther volunteered to keep an eye on Five and the girls naturally paired up, leaving Klaus with Diego.

“Does Ben want the couch?” Diego asked as they entered, before claiming a bed for himself.

“Don’t know,” said Klaus, tossing off his hat and flopping face-down, limbs askew on the next bed, starfish-style. “Want to go back to the Sparrow Academy and invite The Addams Family rejectee to a slumber party? I could secure us a three-pack of footie pajamas. You bring the friendship bracelets.”

“Not him, you idiot. The _real_ Ben. Our brother.”

“Oh.” Klaus opened his mouth and then did something Diego rarely saw him do: He closed it.

“Yo,” Diego snapped for his attention. “Does he?” 

No response, just Klaus buried his face farther into a pillow.

Diego looked around the room and called out, “Want the couch, Ben?”

“Diego, no. Ben — he’s not here.”

“Shit, you say something to piss him off?”

Klaus placed a pillow over his ears.

“You made Ben head out elsewhere?Thats’s great, Klaus. Just great. Barely an hour back in 2019 and we couldn’t manage to stay together.”

“Hef gohn,” Klaus mumbled, the sound drowned out by the sheets.

“Huh?”

“Benz gohn.”

“Ben’s gone? Yes, well I figured that out on account of him not being here. What’d you do to him? What’d you say?”

Klaus flung the pillow off the back of his head and threw it at Diego. “He’s _gone_ gone! He’s not… he’s not coming back, man. He moved on.”

“Oh. Shit.”

“Yeah. Shit.”

Diego heard a sniffle and carefully joined his brother at the edge of the same bed. “So he’s in like…?” He pointed up.

“Yup-p. Good ole angelic Benerino, soaring among the clouds with Gandhi and Mother Teresa now. Hope he likes his 72 virgins.” Another sniffle. 

“You okay?”

“Peachy keen.”

“You’re a terrible liar, bro.”

Klaus sat back up, faced Diego, and threw up his hands. “What do you want me to say? That I’m miserable? That I can’t bear the silence, the lack of someone constantly by my side...though I thought I always wanted that? That 17 plus years with my judgy mcjudgy smug prick of a dead brother following me around wasn’t enough? That I worry that no one will give a damn about me without him? That I only person who cared about Hot Mess Klaus decided to vanish without a real goodbye? That ooooh —” he threw up air quotes “I ‘miss’ him? That I’m" — more air quotes, plus an eye roll — “in 'mourning'?”

“I guess?”

Klaus let out a guttural sound and flopped back down. 

Diego gently lay a hand on the back of his left shoulder. “What happened?”

“Uh, well a quiz in _Teen Vogue_ told me I'm probably not straight. My AA counselor thinks I’m depressed, and a cellmate once diagnose—”

“No, not what made you _you_. We don’t have time to unpack all that. What happened with Ben?”

“Ah, Vanya. Vayna happened to Ben.”

“What?! She hurt him?” Diego tensed, looking ready to head to Vanya’s room, knife at the ready.

But Klaus shot a hand up. “At ease, Zorro. She’s didn’t mean to hurt him. He saved her, he saved all of us — back at the FBI building. It's just that Vanya’s powers were too strong. He couldn’t hold on. He couldn’t — ugh, I need a drink.” 

Klaus stood up and Diego did too, grabbing his brother’s arm. “No.”

“Ex-squeeze me?”

“No drink. Ben would want you to stay sober, right? So, it's settled then. You’re staying sober.”

Klaus blew a raspberry and dropped his eyes to the ground.

“Here,” Diego turned to the mini-fridge behind them, opened it, and tossed Klaus a water bottle.

“What, no snack, too?”

He pelted him with Skittles.

“Dánke.” Klaus grabbed the cowboy hat and emptied the Skittles into it, prompting a questioning look from Diego.

“What? A lady never eats out of a bag. This is way more dignified.”

He chewed in silence for a few minutes as Diego twiddled with a knife.

“Want to like… talk? About it? Ben?” Diego asked.

“Nah, I can talk with some gin later. We’re besties.”

“Klaus.”

“Ugh, fine. A therapist — I’ll find my own Dr. Frasier Crane.”

“You know what you said isn’t true though, right?”

“Qué? Frasier _is_ a therapist. _Tossed salad and scrambled eggs_ and all that.”

“Funny. No, not that. I’m talking about you saying that no one else cares about you. That’s not true, Klaus. Don’t you dare think that’s true. Ever.”

“Mmm? You?”

“Yes, me. Why do you think I volunteered to room with you tonight? That wasn’t random; you were my top pick.”

“Mmm, lucky me. Next time you propose, please include a ring. I like sapphires.”

“And the others — they care about you, too. Vanya relaxes more around you. Allison’s great at putting up with your… everything. Luther, well, he hasn’t tried to lock you up. And Five, why do you think he’s always trying to save us all? Little demon gives several shits about us all, shockingly.”

Klaus took a long sip of water. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, man. No really, whenever you want to talk. I can’t promise I’ll give good advice but we can at least try. I can be… Ben-like.”

Klaus snorted. “So, you’ll douse your hair in gel, start reading historical fiction, and roll your eyes at me like a human 8 ball on the fritz?”

“One out of the three.”

Klaus smiled, though he didn’t meet his brother’s eyes.

“And hey, we still have a Ben, right? Because of that Sparrow bullshit? Sure, he seems like a douche and I’d gladly cut off that facial hair with a knife, but he’s still him. Ben’s alive in _a_ universe at least, right?”

“Sure,” Klaus said, sounding anything but sure.

“Look,” Diego continued. “I think I might know someone else in this universe who should be dead but might be alive but doesn’t know me here, too.”

Klaus spit up a skittle. “That English?”

“I mean that I might have a problem with another bizarro doppelganger. Maybe you can help me find her tomorrow.”

“D’aww,” Klaus grasped his heart. “You want me to play matchmaker? Want to see if this world’s Brittany Murphy is still alive?”

“Brit — what?! No.”

“Amy Whinehouse? Whitney Houston? Carrie Fisher? Mmm, that I get. Iconique.”

“No, you idiot. I’m not horny for a celebrity. Her name’s Eudora. I knew her. We were…”

“Say no more. I get it.” Klaus made kissy sounds, then thrust his hips back and forth. “Sure, Diego. We can hunt the misses down tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

Klaus finished his skittles and lied back down with a sigh. “This sucks.”

“Agreed.”

“Think Five will tell us the world is ending again soon?”

“Probably.”

“What do you think it’ll be this time? Sun exploding? Robot uprising? Global health pandemic caused by a highly infectious virus?”

“Not the last one. Don’t see how Vanya could cause that.”

“Guess we found one thing to be optimistic about then.”

"Yup." Klaus raised his water bottle. "To 2019!"

Diego grabbed a Coke can from the mini-bar and raised it. "To 2019. And to Ben. Thanks for saving the world, bro."

"To Ben." Klaus took a long sip of water. "Ah, wait! I know a tribute he'd love."

Klaus re-opened the mini bar, grabbed as many tiny bottles of alcohol as he could hold in both hands, and headed to the bathroom. One by one, he twisted the caps off and poured the contents out, alternating between the sink and the toilet. "Goodbye, vodka! Goodbye, gin. Shalom, ye rum. Adios, tequila mi amigo."

Diego stared on in horror. "What the hell! What kind of stupid-ass gesture is that?? Those will cost us at least a hundred bucks!"

"Nah. Rumor has it they're free."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd that's it for now! The last chapter.
> 
> .....or maybe not. After all, I was certain the ~previous~ chapter was the last when I wrote it, too. (shrugs)


End file.
